Lonely No More
by zzilly14
Summary: Sharona Fleming leaves Trevor her exhusband and fiancé and ends up in Virginia, where she meets a oneeyed man named Xander Harris. Crossover with Monk. Chapters 1 and 2 up.
1. Chapter 1

_Andy Breckman and Joss Whedon are the geniuses, not me._

Notes: I was watching my Monk Season 1 DVDs, and realized Sharona Fleming ALWAYS fell for Mr. Wrong. My thoughts then saw Xander Harris, loyal Buffy sidekick, and his bad bad luck with women (who usually turned out to be demons). I felt terrible for these two characters and said to myself "hey, why not give them some good luck and get the two of them together?"

**Lonely No More: Chapter 1  
**by Zzilly14  


  
Sharona Fleming sat on the green couch in her second floor Comfort Inn hotel room. She stared out the window towards the Blue Ridge mountains, its azure color contrasting with the reds, oranges, and pinks of the darkening sky.

The former nurse had moved back to Jersey with Trevor, planning to remarry him after he pleaded with her on the phone during back in September. She took Benjy and left San Francisco, also leaving her obsessive-compulsive boss in shambles.

But she soon regretted it. Trevor had proved to her (again) that he wasn't worth it. At their rehearsal dinner in December he had a few too many glasses of champagne and embarrassed her in front of her whole family.

The next morning she vacated with a couple of suitcases, leaving Benjy with her mother, and took the next bus to anywhere far away.

She had reached Virginia and fell in love with its rolling green hills and small yet breathtaking mountains. When the bus arrived in Roanoke she decided she wanted to stay, just for a couple days.

"Benjy? Hey, it's me. How are you?" she said, calling her son on the phone shortly after arriving.

"Mom, where are you?"

"I needed to do something, just on my own. But I wish you were here, it's so gorgeous!"

She heard a sigh on the other end. "When are you coming back?" he asked.

"I don't know, Benjy. I really don't know. But don't worry, you'll have fun with Grandma and Aunt Gail."

"Aunt Gail went back to California yesterday."

"Oh... well, just make sure you help around at Grandma's, okay? I gotta go. Love you!"

"Love you too. Bye."

"Bye!"

Sharona hung up the phone and put her face in her hands. What in the world was she doing?

...

Her alarm rang at a little after eight, reminding her of the hotel's continental breakfast. Sleepily she crawled out of bed, cleaned up her face, and went downstairs in her green striped pajamas.

She grabbed some slightly warm bran muffins and a cup of coffee, finding a seat at an empty white table.

As she ate, she noticed the people around. There was a family of four, with two overly-happy children. She must've heard the word "zoo" at least ten times from them. At the table next to her were a couple of college-aged young women, most likely staying there for Christmas break.

And then she saw a man across the room, and her eyes immediately became open. The first thing she noticed was the black patch over his left eye. She instantly thought pirate, but tossed the image away instantly. Then she took in his whole face - he was kind of cute, maybe a little young for her, but definitely dateable. He had dark hair and was wearing a navy blue button-down shirt.

She then realized there was something about him. Maybe he had seen tragedy in his life... or he had a dark nature and would use her like every other guy she'd dated... Whatever the case, she was attracted, and was compelled to join him.

As she sat staring at him, his right eye met her eyes, and she paused before smiling and giving a little wave. He gave a small grin before going back to eating his chocolate donut.

"Come on Sharona," she told herself. "Go over to him!"

A few deep breaths, and she rose from the table, carrying her paper plate and Styrofoam cup towards the man. When she arrived at his table she cleared her throat.

"Hi there!" she greeted a little too cheerfully. "May I join you?"

"Uh, sure," he replied.

"Thanks," she grinned, setting her things on the table as she sat down. "My name's Sharona."

He looked up. "I'm Xander."

There was an awkward silence for a couple of minutes as they ate their breakfasts.  



	2. Chapter 2

_Andy Breckman and Joss Whedon are the geniuses, not me._

**Lonely No More: Chapter 2  
**by Zzilly14  


  
"Wanna swap life stories?" the curly-haired blonde suddenly asked.

He couldn't believe she just said that. _Can we say overly blunt? It sounds like something Anya would say... No, don't dwell on the past. She's been dead for a year and a half. Xander Harris, it's time to move on!_

"Well, if I tell you mine, you might not believe it," Xander admitted. "My life has been pretty crazy."

"And if I tell you mine, you might not believe it either," she laughed.

"Why don't you go first and we'll see who's got the craziest life?"

"Okay," she giggled. "Well, I'm originally from Jersey, but I lived in San Francisco for the past seven years."

"Really? I used to live down in Sunnydale. Lived there my whole life, until it became a sinkhole a couple years ago."

Sharona's eyes widened. "Wow, I remember hearing about that. When Adrian saw it on the news, he panicked, wanting to leave California as quickly as possible! Luckily I managed to convince him Frisco was _not_ going to become a sinkhole."

"Adrian?" Xander wondered. "He your boyfriend?"

The woman began snorting, which then turned into hysterical laughter. "No, no. Definitely not. I was his nurse and assistant. You see, Adrian Monk may be a great detective, but... he's got issues."

"A detective with issues? Who doesn't?"

"Well, there's no one like him. Trust me. He's got OCD, he's germaphobic, afraid of heights, snakes, milk... you name it. But he notices things we normally wouldn't see, so he helps out the police a lot on unsolved cases."

"Sounds like an interesting guy," Xander said. "Is he here with you?"

"Oh, no. He's still in Frisco. I went back to Jersey in December... almost remarried my ex."

"Almost?"

"The jerk hasn't changed one bit! I thought he was over his drinking problem, but I guess wanting to marry me meant going back to old habits. So I left him."

Xander's eye widened. "At the altar?" he said, shocked.

"Not exactly. But I would've left sooner if I had known Trevor was the same old jackass."

Xander was quiet for a few moments. Sure, the guy sounded like he deserved it. But the memories of leaving Anya still cut him deep, and he didn't want anyone to know the pain that Anya had surely suffered.

"Were you ever married?" Sharona asked softly.

"Almost. But I left her at the altar. I didn't want to get married and end up hurting her, but in the end... I think what I did hurt her even more."

"Hey, we all make mistakes," she replied. "And the good part is, we can learn from them."

Xander laughed as he ate the last piece of his donut. "True, we can learn from them. But apparently I haven't. You'd be surprised at the long list of women I've dated who were... let's just say, not my type."

"I probably have a longer list of guys that I've dated that weren't, as you say, my type. Usually I learn from my mistakes, but when it comes to dating, that's a different story."

The man coughed a few times, asking, "You're not a demon, are you?"

"A what?" Sharona wondered, dumbfounded.

"Look, I have bad luck when it comes to women. They all turn out to be demons. If you're a demon just get it over with and kill me. I'm tired of being prey to mantis women and ex-vengeance demons and mummy girls and..."

He stopped ranting when he realized the confused and shocked expression on Sharona's face. 


End file.
